OH, A TKKATISK ON PIU.. II'. 1 - 



syrnptom, as it shows that its flexibility is impaired. This examination shows that there 

 is no probability of curing this disease without shaving the head and administering to the 

 follicle. 



OF PILE IN SOFTENING OF THE BRAIN. Examination and Description of the hair of the 

 head of a male, aged 00 years, laboring under Softening of the Brain, from the saturation 

 of the system by the syphilitic virus. Specimen presented by D. I. Cain, M. D., Charles- 

 ton, South Carolina, April, 1852. General appearance, nothing remarkable ; length, about 

 four inches; shape, oval, some of them slightly flattened on one of the extremities ot 



the conjugate axis ; diameter, ^lo^'h of an ilicn ' color > of 20 hairs in t1le loclt ' seven are 

 dark colored, the remainder are colorless, apparently from age; lustre, considerable; 

 direction, flowing, slightly curled; inclination, no opportunity of examining, but pre- 

 sumed, from the shape, to be at an acute angle with the epidermis. (See fig. 81.) 



Ductility, Elasticity and Tenacity. 



With 270 grains one inch stretched Jg- of an inch, elasticity entire. 

 " 470 " 9\ 



" 620 " -fa 



" 670 " 9% 



" 870 " 3 5 U minus ^ 



" 920 " 1 " " % 



IL cwn " <* <4 1 3 u u ' r > 



" < <J "90 9 "0 



" i non " " i fi " "0 



i,<J^u -g- - -go 



" 1,070 " f " (*j 



" 1,120 " |A 1^ 



" 1,270 " broke. 



Fracture, abrupt; button, enveloped in a white, cellular substance which extends a 

 considerable distance up and down the shaft, and prevents the button from being defined. 

 This substance may, however, be rendered transparent or removed by maceration, when 

 the button is seen, reduced to a mere knob. The matter removed by maceration imparts to 

 the water a milky hue; shaft, cortex squamose; central canal, interrupted; fibres, very 

 apparent, when the shaft is crushed; disk, some dark colored throughout, others having a 

 minute, white, central spot. 



Remarks. The part of this hair which is in an abnormal condition is the button and 

 posterior termination of the shaft. The former, which in a healthy subject is naked, and 

 is the shape of an oil flask and transparent or translucent, in this is covered with the 

 white substance above described, and has lost its normal shape and transparency. In the 

 white matter of one of these hairs are detected minute, highly colored, either fibres or 

 vessels, for they are so small that it is difficult to determine their character with the highest 

 powers of the microscope. 



